Uncovering graffiti that's 19 years old (05/09/07)

It seemed like a good idea at the time.

(Who knows how many bad ideas have been launched over the years with that phrase in mind?)

But, just the same, 19 years ago, it seemed to make sense.

It was 1988, and we were adding onto our house.

With twins and a two-year-old, we were stretching the house at its seams. But we didn't want to move, so the room addition made sense.

And, unlike some home improvement projects, this one played out well.

The twins moved into a new bedroom, the two-year-old moved into their old bedroom, and all was right with the world.

Of course, the trouble with kids is that they grow up.

Before we knew it, the twins were off to college and the room was unoccupied but full of their junk.

But I'm getting ahead of myself.

Back in 1988, the room addition was the smartest thing we'd ever done.

Like most American DYI nuts, we insisted on finishing it ourselves.

We painted the woodwork a light cream and put a deeper shade of cream on the walls. But about chair-rail height we ran a wallpaper border, and from the border down to the baseboard we put in another wallpaper.

Before the wallpaper was applied, however, I had one of those "good ideas at the time."

The twins, who were 10 or 11, were eager to get the room completed and wanted to help.

At some point, it seems, I suggested graffiti. Why not give the room your signature? Why not doodle something on the primed drywall before the wallpaper goes up?

Silly old Dad.

Before I knew it, the No. 2 pencils were out and scribbling. Goofy messages, pictures of princesses, endless doodles.

How do I know this? Do I remember it from 1988?

No, I remember it because this spring we're trying to move into that old bedroom and make it ours. It's the largest bedroom in the house, and though my knees creak when I go up the stairs, we've been coveting the space.

Transforming it from an abandoned kids' room into a master bedroom, however, has been a challenge.

Tons of stuff has been hauled out. Some has been pitched. Some has been donated. Some has been stored.

And when it came time to address the walls, there was wallpaper to be stripped.

That's when the 19-year-old images resurfaced. All those doodles - there were more than a dozen of them - had to be primed over so they could be painted over.

But before that happened, we had to share them with our girls. I took digital photos and e-mailed them to each of our daughters.

What did we find before the primer was applied?

• A charming little drawing of a window looking out on a rainy night and a crescent moon. At the top it says, "Mom loves Dad."

• A sketch of an upside down barn with the line, "It's time to go to the Funny Farm!"

• Several doodles that the twins had purported to be the work of their two-year-old kid sister, signing her name to the mess.

• And, my favorite, a long scribble that stretched across about 10 feet of space. At the end was one word: "Whee!"

Whee, indeed, but it did seem like a good idea at the time.

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